So the other day, my Small One says, "French didn’t really click for me. I think I’m ready to take on Latin."
This was very, very funny for a multitude of reasons, including the minor technicalities that she hasn’t taken French, and Latin’s not offered ’til middle school.
But the more I thought about it, the more I loved it for it’s presumption.
She’s pretty sure that if she finds the language that’s right for her, she will know and speak it.
She’s pretty sure she has the capacity to learn, um, anything.
She’s pretty sure that anything she imagines can be her’s.
Where does that go, all that fabulous, dreamy, determined, confident presumption?
Where does it go??
Forgotten Language
By Shel Silverstein
Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed.
(Listen the rest here….)
i wonder if we have the penderwicks to thank for the latin interest? we get peppered with questions and quotes about/in latin over here…. all of penderwickian origin. 😉
Ooo, maybe! I’m good with anything Penderwickian…
tanita says
…that is the most poignant poem. It’s said that babies laughing or smiling are speaking to angels – or at least that’s one of those things some people have said to me — and I always think, “Really? Why did we stop understanding? How unfair. How utterly, utterly, unfair…”
And then I remind myself it’s just gas, and the angels wouldn’t do that to us…!
Meanwhile, I hope Latin clicks for your daughter. Faux French continues to click for me. 😉
Re: tanita says
My grandmother used to just say things in a french accent and I remember it as supremely glam.
I find bits of that presumption more and more each day in my nearly 3-year-old daughter, and a little less of it in my teenage son these days (but enough so that he’s still pursuing even his loftiest dreams, and I hope he continues to do so all his life). Thank you for sharing this poem! I hadn’t seen this one before. Happy weekend to you and your family.
Yes to continuing big and presumptuous dreams!!
Liz,
Loved the poem. You have a wonderfully inspiring daughter! Don’t kids give us courage to be whatever even as we encourage them?
Laura Evans
all things poetry
I love that poem, too. And yes, I learn from mine everyday….
Maybe it gets recycled, but I think it lies dormant – because I’ve noticed some of that sort of presumption comes back in one’s 40s!
Ha! Love that, Kelly. Long may you be presumptuous!!!!
I agree with Kelly. It’s always there. We just lose our ability to access it. And then, hopefully, we get over that phase and become confidently creatively presumptuous.
I think this might be my new year’s resolution this year, to cultivate presumption!!!